Street-car brake



(No Model.)

J. O. CHASE. STREET GAR BRAKE.

No. 440,467. Patented Nov. 11, 1890.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

JOSEPH CHURCHILL CHASE, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

STREET-CAR BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,467, dated November11,1890.

Application filed August 4, 1890. Serial No. 360,847. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH CHURCHILL CHASE, of New Orleans, in theparish of Crleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new andImproved Street-Car Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to brakes for railway-' cars, street-cars moreparticularly, and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive,and reliable brake mechanism, which may be operated as easily andeffectively as the ordinary brake and obviates forcible flying back ofthe brake-shaft as the brakes are taken off the car-wheels, and therebyprevents injury to persons riding on the car.

The invention consists in certain novel fea tures of construction andcombinations of parts of the car-brake mechanism, as hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart ofthis specification,

in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts inall the figures.

Figure 1 is a partly sectional side elevation of a portion of astreet-car provided with my improved brake mechanism. Fig. 2 is anenlarged vertical section of the car-brake mechanism, taken on the linea: w in Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on the line (1y in Fig. 2.

Street-railway cars are commonly provided with a vertical brake-shaft,which, beneath the car-platform, carries a drum on which is wound achain connected with the brake beams or shoes to apply the brake as theshaft is turned by its cranked handle operated by the driver of the car.A pawl on the platform usually is provided to engage a ratchet-wheel onthe brake-shaft to hold the brakes on when applied, in order to relievethe driver; but when this pawl is thrown from the ratchet by the driversfoot the brake-shaft usually flies around backward and has caused manyserious injuries to drivers and passengers by their being struck by thebrake-shaft crank arm or lever. In my invention this dangerous flyingback of the brake-shaft arm or lever is entirely obviated and the safetyof persons riding on the car is thereby promoted.

In carrying out my invention in the preferred manner I use a verticalbrake-shaft A, which is suitably journaled to the dashboard b of thecar-platform Band to the top of a box or casing C, which is fastened tothe platform next the dashboard and at the feet of the car-driver whohandles the brake.

Instead of connecting the chain-drum D fixedly to the brake-shaft Ijournal the drum suitably to the car-platform and to the top of thedrum-shaft, and within the boxis fixed a head-plate E, which carries acouple of lugs F F, which are adapted to be engagedby two clutch-bars GG, which are pivoted at their inner ends to the foot of the brake-shaft,which preferably has a loose bearing a on or in the chain-drumhead-plate E. The clutchbars are hung on a horizontal pivot g, allowingtheir outer ends to be raised so as to be clear of the lugs FF, and tolower by gravity and automatically drop behind the lugs. The drum may ormay not have the head-plate E, as any other arrangement of it whereby itmay support lugs F tobe engaged by the brake-shaftclutch-bars will servemy purpose. It will be understood that but one lug Fmay be used on thechain-drum or its head-plate, and that but one corresponding clutch-barG may be used on the brake-shaft to engage the lug, or more than twolugs and clutch-bars therefor may be employed; but I prefer twodiametrically-arranged lugs and clutch-bars, as shown in the drawings.

I provide a simple and reliable trip device to uncouple the brakeshaftand CllLlH'dIlllIl, which consists, preferably, of a ring I-Lwhichwillalways underlietheoneormoreclutch-bars of the shaft, and isconnected to one end of a treadle-lever I, and preferably to theextremities of its forks i, said lever beingpivoted,preferably, t0 theside wall of the box C, which conceals and protects the brake-shaftclutch mechanism. This lever I extends rearward through or from the boxC, and at its outer end is provided with a treadle or foot plate J,which may conveniently be depressed by the car-driver. The inner forkedend of the lever is bent or shaped so as to stop at the car-platformwhen the ring H is below the clntchbar or bars G of the chain-drum. Aspring K is preferably employed within the box C to positively lower thering H and hold it down except when the treadle I J is depressed. Withinthe box or casing C is arranged a spring-pressed pawl L, which normallyengages a ratchet-wheel M, fixed to the brakeshat't A, to preventbackward turning of the clutched shaft and chain-drum when the brake isapplied.

The operation of my invention is very simple and effective. When thebrake is off, the mechanism takes the normal relative positions shown infull lines in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawingsthat is to say, thebrakeshaft clutch-bars G lie behind the chain-drumlugs F and theuncoupling-ring H is down clear of the clutch-bars. If the car is to bestopped or controlled in speed, it is only necessary to turnthebrake-shaft,which ther'gbyor through the clutch-bars G acting on thedrum-lugs F, will rotate the drum and thereby wind thereon the chain (1,which is connected in any approved rnanner to the brake-beams to applythe brakesto the car-wheels. lease the brake or free the wheels it isonly necessary for the driver to press his foot on the plate J of thelever I and thereby raise the ring H and with it the clutch-bars G untilthe latter are above the drum-lugs F, as indicated in dotted lines inFig. 2 of the drawings. Immediately the-bars G are thus uncoupled fromthe drum-lugs F the drum will be free, and the brake-shoes will leavethe car-wheels, thereby taking oh. the brakes. It is obvious that as thebrake-shaft is thus uncoupled from the brake-chain drum the drum willturn backward, but the shaft will not, as it is retained by the pawl andratchet L M, and there is no danger of injuring the driver or passengersby a rapidly and forcibly rotating brake-shaft handle; hence the brakemechanism is safe to use and is as easily operated and as quick inaction as the ordinary style of brake and is not liable to get out oforder. The pawl-and-ratchet detent L M is not essential, as the drivermay quite easily hold the brake-shaftA from tn rning back as heuncouples it from the chaindrum; but the use of this detent ispreferable, as it entirely relieves the driver from care of the brakemechanism in releasing the brakes, excepting the very natural movementof his foot-indepressingthetrcadle-leverto uncouple the chain-drum andbrake-shaft.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A brake-operating mechanism comprising the chain-drum, the brakestaff or rod above the drum and separate and independent thereof, aclutch for connecting the lower end of the brake staff or rod and thedrum, and a trip to release the said clutch and per To again re-' mitthe drum to rotate andunwind the chain thereon without rotating thebrake rod or staff, which remains stationary,substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. A brake-operating mechanism comprising the drum having a lug or lugs,a separate and independent brake rod or staff, the outward-projectingvertically-swinging clutch bar or bars pivoted to the brake-rod abovethe drum, lugs to engage said lugs and rotate the drum, and a trip toraise said pivoted arm or arms and release the drum, the brakerodremaining stationary, substantially as shown and described.

3. A brake mechanism comprising the drum having a lug or lugs,a separateand independent brake-rod having a detent to prevent it from rotating ina reverse direction, the vertically-swinging clutch bar or bars pivotedto the lower end of the brake-rod and adapted to engage the drum lug orlugs, and a foot-trip to raise said clutch arm orarms and release thedrum without rotating the brake-rod, substantially as shown anddescribed.

4. The herein-described brake mechanism comprising the drum having a lugor lugs on its upper end, a separate and independent brake-rod providedat its lower end with a pivoted clutch arm or arms to engage the lug orlugs and rotate the drum, a ratchet-wheel on the brake-rod above theclutch-rod, and a pawl to engage said ratchet, and means for raising thepivoted arm to release the drum, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, in a railway-car brake and with the chain-drumconnected to the brake-shoes, of lugs on the drum,a brakeshaft,clutch-bars hung to the shaft and adapted to engage the drum-lugs, atreadlelever carrying a trip ring or lifter at the clutchbars andadapted when operated to uncouple the drum and brake-shaft, and aratchet-andpawl detent preventing flying back of the shaft when it isuncoupled from the drum, substantially as described.

6. The combination, in a street-car brake, ot' a box or casing C on thecar-platform, a chaindrum D, journaled to the platform and provided withlugs F, a brake-shaft A, journaled 011 the platform and entering the box0 and provided therein with pivoted clutch-bars G, adapted to thedrum-lugs F, a ring H below the clutch-bars, and a lever I, sustainingthe ring and extending for operation outside the box, substantially asdescribed.

JOSEPH CHURCHILL CHASE.

fitnesses:

. J. B. RossER, J11, G. REBENTISCH.

IIO

